1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for the continuous finishing of webs of textiles, artificial leather and the like by wetting the web, heating the web, and moving the web in a relaxed-state through a rotating reversible drum and the apparatus for carrying out this process. The apparatus is arranged for the continuous feed and discharge of a textile or other web into and out of a chamber respectively within which the web is treated with gas, steam, mist, or other treatment media to alter or refine the character and texture of the web being treated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the prior art to crimp textiles of limited length by treating them in batch fashion in a heatable, rotatable drum. An apparatus suitable for carrying out such a batch process is to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,851. In the batch treatment, the material is wetted at the beginning of the treatment in the drum by injecting steam or water.
It is also known in the prior art to treat artificial leather continuously in a reversible continuous drum for the purposes of producing a surface grain, and subsequently to flatten the material again and roll it up. An example of such an apparatus is to be found in German Auslegeschrift No. 1,954,571.
In the applicant's earlier application, Ser. No. 400,911, filed Sept. 26, 1973 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,356, the applicant has also already proposed to pass a web of material, prior to the treatment in the continuous flow-through drum, over a pretreatment or conditioning section where the web of material is irradiated, steamed and/or sprayed, as well as possibly dried. In this process, it has proven difficult to give the material, before it enters the drum, the required moisture content. Particularly in the processing of dry material in the tensioned state, a uniform wetting is difficult to achieve. The material must therefore be super wetted or soaked for reasons of safety. For the predrying of the soaked material, however, a drying section of such length as renders the plant uneconomical is necessary. The material is therefore, regardless of the moisture content achieved in the pretreatment, usually super wetted before being introduced into the continuous flow-through drum for further treatment. Since the drying of the material is completed in the flow-through drum, the result of the aforementioned mode of operation is a large drop of moisture and specific weight in the material. The loops of material formed at the inlet end come to rest on top of the preceding, already dried, material thus leading to non-uniformity of the drying and spotty results and to the graining and texturing of the web of material.